Side Note: Incredible American BBQ

Look at that glorious picture. I think this might be one of the best pictures of my food adventures I have ever taken.
Anyway, welcome to this tasty but unusual post of Ibaraki Eats. Why is it unusual? Well, the place I am going to talk about today is not in Ibaraki. It is in Chiba. Since this is Ibaraki Eats that would automatically disqualify this post and I would move on to another place to write about around Ibaraki. Even though that is my sacred rule, I am breaking it for this place. You need to know about this wonderful American BBQ place and you need to go there and try their amazing BBQ. That's why this is an unusual post and a side note. Another thing is I met the owner of this fantastic establishment and I told him about my rule. He said "Don't worry. This is Chibaraki so it still counts." (If you don't know about Chibaraki, it is Chiba + Ibaraki, basically the border area of Chiba and Ibaraki.) So I guess he has a point. That being said, today I am going to talk about Texas BBQ.

Texas BBQ

Texas BBQ or T's BBQ, is located in the Tomisato area of Chiba. It is quite a drive from Ibaraki. If you don't use the highway, like we did, it is about an hour drive from Tsuchiura.
I had no idea this place existed until my wife found it on Instagram. She looked at T's BBQ schedule and how far it was and wondered if we should try it. What finally made us go was the owner of Tres Club in Moriya (amazing tacos that I have written about before). He told us it was amazing BBQ and that we should go as soon as possible.
A few weeks ago during a long weekend, we woke up early and headed to Chiba. We followed the directions on Google Maps and found a container area in Tomisato. T's BBQ has plenty of parking in front and around the area. What surprised me was that the area is surrounded by different business that are containers. There was a 24 hour sweets shop container, an eyelash salon, a kakigori place, another restaurant, and one black container that read Texas BBQ. That is where we were headed and that is where the line was.

The Menu

Good news everyone! The menu has both Japanese and English. There are also plenty of pictures that show what is what and it is mostly self explanatory.
That one thing I want to talk about when it comes to the menu is the brisket section. When you look at the brisket section there will be an AA, A, B, and C next to the brisket picture with a Japanese explanation. This is the grading scale for the brisket. AA being outstanding and C being good.

Inside

After waiting a few minutes, we headed inside the small black container. Once we opened the door, the smell of cooked meat and BBQ hit us and it smelled amazing.
The inside of the container has a kitchen area, the ordering counter, and two small tables to eat in. This Tomisato container place is mostly an outside dinning place. There are a bunch of picnic tables outside T's BBQ and there is even a second floor outside dinning area on the left side of the containers.
I was excited to try T's BBQ, Mrs. Ibaraki Eats was exhilarated. She ordered a bunch of different menu items and I was afraid she wasn't going to stop. She at least let me pick which BBQ sandwich we were getting, but the other 80% of our meal was picked by her. I didn't mind though. Everything she picked sounded amazing. I was just worried we wouldn't be able to finish it all.
The owner told us it would be an hour wait. My wife then said and I quote" Not to worry, I would wait ten hours for this." We were given a pager and we waited outside.

Our BBQ Bounty

Our pager went off and we walked inside T's BBQ to grab our BBQ. We were lucky enough to grab one of the small tables inside T's BBQ container and enjoy our BBQ under some air conditioning (With the occasional BBQ smoke hitting us).
So this is everything Mrs. Ibaraki Eats ordered. The Texas BBQ plate and a few extras. Our tray brought a brisquet sandwich, three tacos, sausage, more brisket, pulled pork, toasted buns to make a pulled pork sandwich, fries, potato salad, pickles, mustard, and a special sauce for the brisket.
We couldn't wait to dig in.

BBQ Tacos

The first thing we tried were the tacos. Since this was a BBQ place, I wasn't sure how tasty the tacos were going to be. I grabbed the tortilla and found that everything wrapped around the tortilla nicely. I took a bite and got a blast of different amazing flavors. BBQ sauce, pork, veggies, and that extra kick of jalapenos. You can't think of these as Mexican tacos, you have to think of them as American style BBQ tacos. I loved every bite of these tacos and couldn't wait to try everything else that we ordered.

Pulled Pork

I love pulled pork. It is an amazing way to eat pork. So much time and skill goes into making it that I appreciate any cook who has mastered the ways of the pulled pork. The owner of T's BBQ has certainly mastered pulled pork. T's pulled pork just by itself is delicious. Put the pulled pork in between two toasted hamburger buns and it becomes magical. That is what my wife and I did. We each took a bite of our pulled pork sandwich and got a meaty flavor of slow cooked pork that was heavenly. I could have this pulled pork again and I most definitely will.

Sausage, Potato Salad, and Pickles

This is just a small part of our BBQ feast but it is still a tasty part of it. I am not sure what sausage T's BBQ uses but it was delicious. It was juicy and meaty in all the right ways. There was also a bunch of different spices in it which really made it a an amazing break from all the brisket and pulled pork. If you ever have this sausage, don't forget to dip it into the mustard that is right next to it.
The potato salad is small but it isn't just a decoration for this work of art of a BBQ platter. It was creamy with nice chunks of potato in it. By far one of my favorite potato salads.

The Brisket Grade A

Now we come to the main reason my wife and I wanted to visit this place. It is something that cannot be found in Ibaraki but should be tried by all the meat lovers living in Japan. T's BBQ's brisket. My wife wanted to try the AA brisket. Unfortunately, the AA brisket was sold out. Luckily, we were able to try the A brisket.
In my older posts, I have some times written that you should go to the place I was writing about asap and I meant it. Hear me now. Drop whatever you are doing. You don't even have to finish reading my post. Get in your car or go to the nearest train station, and head to T's BBQ to try their brisket. I mean it. Stop reading. Go right now.
If you are thinking "Relax Mr. Ibaraki Eats. I can't go now but I might go later this month." No! Go as soon as humanly possible. This brisket should have its own beautiful poetry written about it. It is truly a feast of BBQ mastery. My wife and I bit into this brisket and we were in a trance of meaty deliciousness. This brisket was so soft and tasty, it just melted in your mouth. I want more of this brisket now just writing about it. Mrs. Ibaraki Eats loved this brisket so much that she ordered more to take home to have later for dinner. That night we had brisket again and we did not regret it.
Thank you T's BBQ for some incredible brisket.

Brisket Sandwich

If you have read this far, that means you haven't gone to T's BBQ yet. I forgive you, but go as soon as you can. You have already read my opinion on the brisket, so what happens when you put that brisket into a sandwich. BBQ magic is what happens. This sandwich is by far the best sandwich I have had this year. It is a sandwich that stands tall above all other sandwiches here in Ibaraki. Chopped onions, with that lovely brisket, and the brisket sauce..Oh! I forgot to talk about the brisket sauce. The sauce is a bit spicy but not too spicy. It adds a bit of a kick to the flavorful meaty brisket which is fantastic.
This sandwich is a carnivore's dream. Biting into it feels so right. My wife bit into the brisket sandwich. She didn't give her usual thumbs up or her oishi because she couldn't stop eating it. When she finished her half sandwich she looked so happy but with a hint of sadness that her half of the sandwich was gone. She then looked up with a fondness of reliving a fond memory and smiled. I don't think she was thinking of me. I can't blame her though. I did the same thing and felt the same way after I finished my half of the sandwich.

Once we finished our BBQ meal, we couldn't move. I'm not kidding. We couldn't move. It was a factor of two things. One was being in a trance of having had amazing BBQ. The other was being way too stuffed to move. With enough will power, we finally got out of our chairs and thanked the owner for some of the best American BBQ I have had in Japan. The owner asked me, since I was American, if I liked what he made. I replied that he was by far one of the best BBQ Pit Masters I have ever met.

T's BBQ, thank you so much for an amazing lunch. It was incredible and I still dream about it from time to time. I hope I can go back to your place soon and enjoy your amazing BBQ again. And to my fellow Ibarakians, as I wrote before this place is in Chiba, but I truly believe the long drive or train ride to this place is well worth it.

So if you are around the Tomisato area of Chiba and are looking for some fantastic American BBQ, why not give Texas BBQ a chance? Who knows, you will probably see us there, my wife ordering everything on the menu and me eating as much brisket as I can.
Enjoy!

For more information on Texas BBQ, check out their Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/tsbbq.japan?igsh=MWl2ZzZ6OTFkNDNxOA==